What Happens at the 12th
by DeadPigeon
Summary: A fun collection of one-shots that take place at the 12th precinct.
1. The Chair

**The Chair**

Arriving at the precinct, Rick was quickly comforted by the sights and sounds of the  
>familiar. He had just returned from a two week book tour where nameless faces,<br>numerous flights and drab lonely hotels had taken their toll. It was good to be home.  
>He approached Kate's desk and stood there in utter disbelief.<p>

"Where's my chair?"

"Good morning to you too." Kate replied.

"Where's my chair?" He demanded again without acknowledging her greeting.

"Where's my coffee?" She demanded.

His brow furrowed and he finally looked her in the eye as he handed over her coffee.

"I was coming back. I mean, I am back. I was only gone on a book tour. You knew that.  
>I told you, didn't I tell you?"<p>

"Relax Castle, it's not what you think."

"Well then, what is it? What happened to my chair?"

"I think I'll let Esposito explain it to you." She looked across the bullpen to his desk.  
>He was engrossed in his computer and he hadn't noticed Castles arrival. "Yo! Esposito!" She yelled.<p>

Castle watched as Esposito's look of surprise turned into an awkward smile as he rose from  
>his chair and made his way over.<p>

'Hey bro, how was your book tour?" He jovially patted the writer's arm trying to lighten his  
>mood, but noticed that the scowl never left Castle's face.<p>

"What happened to my chair?"

"It, um…well it kinda, there was this…"

Castle moved in closer. "Spill it, detective."

"Adrunkguypeedinyourchair" He blurted out to quick for anyone to understand.

"A what?"

Esposito took a step back before repeating slowly. "A drunk guy peed in your chair."

"What! How the hell did that happen?"

Kate filled in the blanks.

"Swifty here brought in a suspect on last weeks case that was three sheets to the wind and  
>he had the brilliant idea to try and question him instead of throwing him into the drunk tank<br>to sober up first…which is standard procedure." She glared at Esposito as she said this. "So  
>he parks the man in your chair while he checks on an available interview room and when he<br>returns he finds the guy peeing in your chair."

"You should have seen it." Ryan butted in. He wasn't about to miss this conversation and had  
>quietly snuck up on the group. "The guy must have just finished off a six pack, cause I swear<br>to god he flooded half the bullpen, good thing Beckett wasn't here at the time or she'd of  
>probably had Esposito back on patrol." Ryan laughed, but his partner just glared at him till he<br>cut his laughter short.

"What am I gonna' do about my chair?"

"I had maintenance save it out back," Esposito piped up. "You know, in case you wanted to have  
>it reupholstered."<p>

"You've got to be kiddin, right? It'll be the joke of the bullpen._ Hey Castle, how do you flush that  
>thing? <em>_What's the matter Castle, you look pissed. _Or, I'll come in one day and I'll find a roll of toilet  
>paper attached to the armrest or maybe one of those disposable paper toilet covers lying in the seat.<br>Closing his eyes he pinched the bridge of his nose, shook his head, and let out a frustrated sigh. "All  
>I wanted today was a little normalcy after jetting around the country for two weeks but what do I get<br>instead? I get home to find my world turned upside down."

Kate laughed at his melodrama. "Come on Castle, lighten up. It's just a chair."

"It was more than a chair." His tone and his face became serious. "It was my place here. It's all I had."  
>He reached over to the front of her desk. "It's not like I have a desk with my name on it like you guys."<br>He picked up her nameplate and began waving it at them. "How do you think you would feel if you went  
>on vacation for two weeks and then came back to find your desk gone? I know how you would feel. You<br>would feel like you'd just woken up in an alternate reality and discovered that you never existed. That's  
>how you'd feel because that's how I feel. Your desk is more than just a desk, it's your home away from<br>home; it defines who you are at work."

Kate leaned forward in her chair and snatched her flailing nameplate from is hand.

"Forget it Castle, you're not getting a desk. In this reality you can either have maintenance bring you  
>another chair or you can go buy one. In the mean time, borrow one and sit down because we've got<br>work to do." She cut her eyes at Ryan and Esposito and it sent them hurrying back to their desks.

Castle made a point of sauntering after Esposito and removing the chair that sat next to his desk.  
>He let its legs drag across the bullpens linoleum floor with a high pitched squeal before setting it<br>next to Kate's desk.

"Happy now?" She asked.

"No," he replied, squirming in the unfamiliar seat.

…..

One week later, Kate arrived at work to find a pair of legs sticking out from under her desk.

"Castle?"

"One sec…almost done…there!"

Wiggling out from under her desk he sat up quickly and Kate winced as his head banged against the  
>underside.<p>

"Ow!" Grabbing his head he stood up, albeit a little wobbly and leaned against her desk for support.

"That's gotta hurt," She remarked.

"Yeah, I might have a concussion." His plea for sympathy fell flat.

"Excuse me," was all she said in reply as he was blocking access to her desk.

He moved to the right and she pulled open the bottom drawer and dropped her purse inside. She  
>closed it with push of her foot. Grabbing her office chair that had been pushed aside, she rolled it<br>back into place and sank down onto its institutional grey upholstery. She looked over at Castle and  
>found him engrossed in rubbing the new lump on his head.<p>

"So, do I even want to know what you were doing under my desk?"

He stopped rubbing his head to answer her question. "I was putting in a new surge protector."

"What was wrong with the one I had?"

"It didn't have enough receptacles."

"Enough for what?"

"You'll see." He gave her a knowing smile and left it at that. "Oh, now that you're here, there's  
>something I have to do. I'll be right back." Kate watched as he headed towards the elevator and<br>she could only sit and wonder what he was up to.

Twenty minutes later, give or take, he returned…with her morning cup of coffee. She was surprised  
>when that was all he retuned with, but she accepted it without asking any questions. He paced<br>beside her desk as she sipped her morning manna. Five minutes later, she'd had enough.

"Would you light somewhere? Where's the chair you took from Esposito?"

"I put it back."

"Well then go sit in it…preferably over there." She nodded towards his desk.

"Fine."

He knew it was best to leave her alone till the first cup kicked in so he spent the better part of the  
>morning talking trash with the guys. It was about ten a.m. when his attention was drawn to the<br>elevator. A deliveryman exited wheeling a dolly with a large box into the bullpen. Jumping up from  
>his seat, he hurried over to the man and directed him to where he needed to go. When the dolly<br>clanged to a stop next to Kate's desk she looked up in surprise.

"What is this?"

Bringing up the rear, Castle passed around the delivery man, sidled up to the box and placed his  
>hand on top.<p>

"This…" he paused for the imaginary trumpets that played in his head "…is my new chair!"

He could barely contain his excitement and fumbled with his wallet as he pulled out a twenty to tip  
>the man. The noise and the box had Ryan and Esposito hurrying over to her desk.<p>

"What did you get us this time Castle? One of those theatre popcorn machines for the break room?"  
>Ryan asked.<p>

'I didn't get _you_ anything. This is all for me."

He pulled a penknife out of his pocket and proceeded to cut away the thin plastic bands that were  
>holding the longer top box to the shorter base. Lifting off the top revealed the basic shape of the<br>chair but it was covered in layers of protective paper and bubble wrap. He knelt down and cut away  
>some more plastic bands that were holding the chair to the thick cardboard base. Once free, he<br>picked up the chair and set it on the floor. His audience could only watch and wait as he dragged  
>the empty cardboard boxes away from Kate's desk and parked them in an out of the way corner.<br>Returning to the chair, he made quick work of removing the paper and bubble wrap. He removed  
>all but the paper that covered the back of the chair.<p>

"Come here." He ushered the gang in a group to face the chair. "You are gonna love this!" He ripped  
>away the remaining bits of paper to reveal upholstery that mimicked his bullet proof vest. It was a<br>durably constructed deep blue fabric and it had the word WRITER boldly stitched across the back in  
>thick white letters. "What do you think?"<p>

Nobody had any comments on the similarities. They were too busy asking questions about the odd  
>pieces hanging from, sticking out of, or attached to the chair.<p>

Ryan was the first one at the chair. "What is this for?" He asked, holding up a cord that dangled  
>from beneath.<p>

"What's that lever for?" Esposito pointed to the right side.

"And what is that attached to the other side?" Kate asked.

He was somewhat disappointed at their lack of reaction to the upholstery work, but he was eager to  
>answer all their questions.<p>

"Give me a second and I'll demonstrate." He reached over and took the cord from Ryan's hand.

"I've never seen a chair that had to be demonstrated before." Ryan commented.

"This isn't just any chair. It's a one of a kind chair custom made to my specifications. It has everything  
>I could need while I'm working here."<p>

"Working?" Kate crossed her arms and snickered.

Hey!…I contribute," he hastily replied as brushed off their snickers. He moved Kate's chair out of the  
>way again and crawled back under her desk. His hand snaked out from under the desk as he passed<br>the cord back around the left front leg and pulled it back under the left side. More cord played out  
>from under the chair as he pulled it further under the desk. When he had enough cord, he plugged<br>it in to the new power strip and crawled back out, making sure he was clear before he stood up this  
>time. As he stood, he discovered Ryan sitting in the chair.<p>

"Man, this thing is comfortable."

"It should be, it's padded with a top of the line memory foam." Ryan began bouncing up and down.  
>"So move it…," He glared at the bouncing detective. "…before it starts memorizing your ass instead<br>of mine." Ryan leapt up out of the seat and returned to the safety of his co-workers.

Settling into his new chair he rolled it away from her desk.

"Did you notice the retractable power cord? It extends and retracts automatically so there's no excess  
>cord piled up on the floor." He scooted back towards her desk and the cord retracted.<p>

"So what's it for?" Esposito asked.

'It controls two features." He lifted up the hinged right armrest to reveal several buttons and a switch.  
>"The switch controls the casters. They can be free wheeling, like they are now, or you can lock them in<br>place." He pushed the switch and a slight clicking sound was heard. He then tried to roll the chair, but  
>it wouldn't budge.<p>

"Nice," Esposito commented. "What are the other buttons for?"

"For this." He pushed one and sat back with a big smile on his face.

"What did it do?"

"Touch the chair."

Esposito put his hand on the armrest.

"Oh man, that is so cool."

Ryan moved in and touched the chair. His eyes flew wide. "It vibrates!"

"It what?" Kate reached out and also touched the chair. She could feel it vibrate through her fingers  
>and up her arm. Letting go, she stood back and shook her head in disbelief.<p>

"And check this out." He pulled out the small lever just under the right side of the seat. It released  
>a hinged plate which allowed the chair to rock.<p>

"What is this Castle, your version of "Pimp My Ride"?"

"Do you realize how much time I spend in my chair? I think some degree of comfort is in order.  
>Especially after the three years I spent sitting on that government issued brick."<p>

She rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "Ok, Pimp Daddy; let's wrap this show up before  
>I have to arrest you."<p>

"For what?" He protested.

"Interfering with a police investigation. In case you've forgotten, we've got work to do."

"Fuh…nee!" He smirked. "So, the final feature of the chair…"

"Thank god." She muttered.

He glared at her and she threw her hands up in mock surrender.

"The final feature is this." He pulled up on a square rigid surface that was mounted on a hinged  
>metal arm attached to the left side of the chair. It swung up and over his lap becoming an instant<br>table top. "It's a desk!" He beamed proudly.

The guys nodded appreciatively, but Kate couldn't help but bust his bubble.

"Come on Castle, having a table top doesn't make it a desk."

"No," he smiled up at her. "But this does."

He pulled out a six inch long angled strip of metal from his breast pocket and set it on the edge  
>of his "desk." It was a black and gold nameplate emblazoned with the word CASTLE.<p> 


	2. The Souvenir

**The Souvenir**

After a week without her morning coffee, Kate couldn't help the smile that filled her face  
>and lit her eyes as a familiar arm appeared placing a sixteen ounce paper cup with<br>plastic lid onto the desk in front of her. Wrapping her hands around its radiating warmth,  
>she closed her eyes and inhaled. The smell evoked memories of him more than it did of<br>the rich brown liquid contained inside. She was shocked when she suddenly realized...  
><em>It wasn't about the coffee anymore.<em> Her eyes flew open to dispel the images that swirled  
>in her head. She cut a quick glance to her left and regretted it, the sight of him smiling<br>back at her caused her face to flush and her mouth to go dry. She sought relief in the  
>cup, but only succeeded in scalding the roof of her mouth when she tried chugging it<br>instead of sipping. Her hand flew to her mouth and she coughed to hide the pain she  
>was in.<p>

"Miss my coffee detective?"

She noticed that his smile had migrated to his eyes and…did they just twinkle? She had to  
>have imagined that. People's eyes don't really twinkle. They might in cheesy movies or<br>cartoons, but not in real life! What the hell was wrong with her? _It's only coffee for christ's sake!_

"No," was all she was able to coherently spit out as she tried to cover her hesitation to reply.

"You clones should really work on getting the mannerisms down before you replace people, it's  
>a dead give away."<p>

"What?"

"See, there you go again. Kate Beckett does not speak in monosyllabic grunts."

"How was the book tour?" She asked, trying to put the conversation into something more normal.

"And…she's back. It was good. I only got writers cramp once." He flexed his hand. "But I recovered."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Yep, she's definitely back."

"I definitely missed these stimulating conversations more than I missed your coffee." Her equilibrium  
>returned as her sarcasm began to flow.<p>

"Touché." He saluted her with his coffee cup and she did the same. "So, working on anything interesting?"

"We caught a strange one last night that you're gonna love. Our vic was found in an alley behind an  
>abandoned warehouse wearing nothing more than a kilt, and a replica of a 17th century claymore was<br>found lying next to the body."

"No way."

"We still don't have an Id on the vic yet, probably won't…at least not till we find his head."

"No way! That's so…that's so…so…" He was about to bust.

"Go ahead Castle, you can say it."

"That's so Highlander!"

"For once, I can actually say you're right."

"I am?"

"It seems a lot of the abandoned warehouses in the city are used for LARPing and we've found a web  
>site for three Highlander clans in the area that participate. You know what LARPing is, right?"<p>

"Yeah, Live Action Role Playing. I didn't know there was a group for Highlander." He sat back into his  
>chair and began talking more to himself than to her. "That sounds so cool…and I already have the kilt…"<p>

"You have a kilt?"

Huh…oh, yeah. I've had one for years. I wore it to a couple of book signings." An uncontrollable grin  
>spread across his face. "You wouldn't believe how many women…" He stopped short before he put all of<br>his foot into his mouth. "…uh, how many women said I had nice legs."

"Uh huh."

"Why did I ever stop wearing it? Oh, yeah…it caused a cat fight."

"What, two women fought over you?"

"Yeah, is it so hard to believe?"

"Go on."

"I was mingling with the crowd after a book signing and I started talking with this beautiful brunette  
>when another woman interrupted us. The brunette took offense and an argument began. The argument<br>quickly turned into a shouting match and then the fight ensued. I was banned from Boarders for a year  
>because of that incident."<p>

"Because two women got into it? How was that your fault?"

"Well…the two women soon turned into about ten women and the lobby of the store kinda got trashed,  
>and then the cops showed up…and well…"<p>

Kate had a hard time suppressing her laugh so she reached for her coffee to give her mouth something  
>else to do. Laughter suppressed, she brought the conversation back to the case.<p>

"Can you go grab Ryan and Esposito out of the break room, we need to divide up the clans and get  
>started on tracking down the members."<p>

"Sure." He made a move to get up but then sat back down. "Oh, I almost forgot."

He reached into his jacket pocket, removed a small bag and set it on her desk.

Kate leaned back into her chair and eyed the brown bag.

"What am I Castle, seven? You don't have to bring me something back every time you go on a trip."

"I know, but when I saw this I thought of you, so I had to get it."

She stifled another smile as her hand reached for the bag. She opened it and pulled out a small tacky  
>souvenir. It was a pink plastic dolphin mounted on a seashell stand with the word TENNESSEE stenciled<br>across the body of the dolphin.

The confusion on her face spoke louder than her words. "I don't get it?"

"Neither do I!" He leaned forward as the explanation ensued. "There I was, killing time, browsing the souvenir  
>shop at the Memphis international Airport, it's a landlocked state I might add, and there it was. I expected the<br>country music images and the Elvis figurines; but a pink dolphin? It's a mystery that begs to be solved!"

She just snorted and Castle smiled as she placed the dolphin next to her nesting dolls. These 'unwanted trinkets'  
>he'd given her over the years were now covering nearly a third of her desk.<p> 


End file.
